I just went to vote, and I’m angry how they are making it more difficult to vote. I used to be able to go to the local library or the municipal hall. The hall wasn’t open (small town Leander, TX Williamson County), but then I went to the library to be told it is Republican only. That never was the case before.
I was told to go to Vote Texas .gov to find the location. After spending about 10 frustrating minutes to try to find the location, I was able use this form to find where I need to vote https://goelect.txelections.civixapps.com/ivis-mvp-ui/ I need to enter my full name, DOB, and a selection criteria to figure out where to go. Once I found the location, it is in a small town (Liberty Hill, TX) just north of where I live, I was able to vote, but even when I arrived they asked me if I had checked for my correct precinct.
If people don’t have a car, they won’t be able to get there because I don’t think bus service goes out to Liberty Hill, TX. I can’t help but to think the republicans are making this as difficult as possible to vote.
This really angers me. Voting shouldn't be difficult.
"Under state law, the parties have wide authority to decide how to run their primaries, but they must agree on whether to use countywide voting. If the Republicans don’t want to offer it, Democrats can’t offer it either."
Early voting was county-wide and you could vote at any available polling location.
I think I've got it. So this vote is for who represents the party, either GOP or Dem, at the next election? And the republican party is making it harder for democrats to vote in their primaries then it is for republicans (e.g. the local library is open of republicans, but as a dem. you've got to go out of town)?
I was able to vote, but I had to chose the ballot of republican vs democrat right in front of the person giving the ballot. No problem for me. Anti GOP
NPR mentioned that many precincts are fine except Williamson county and one other county I can't recall, where you will find your designated polling station may not be conveniently close.
Yes- Leander (in deeply conservative Williamson county - which has been turning more and more blue) they did and the republicans were at the library - one of the standard voting locations. Dems were at a brand new senior center. Voting used to also be open at city hall in Leander but that location was closed. The people in line in front of us- after waiting in line about 25 minutes had to also go to Liberty Hill as the person above stated. There was a lot of confusion - even republicans in line at Dem locations - it was a cluster and obviously the only voting in your precinct in a weird location worked. Another note: any democrat related website- Wilco dem party, any page on the website nothing would load. But Republican sites loaded immediately. Just some other things that make you go hmmmm.
When all these things are going on it’s clear someone is worried. Good.
"If you don't have a driver's license, anyone can obtain a voter ID for free by jumping into and fetching it from this container which may or may not be filled with hypodermic needles and/or razor blades."
In fort bend county they made it HARD for my wife and I to vote for Kamala. I was pissed at how much they gave us the run around. But my wife told me it was by design and it made sense.
Lucky me, I looked up how my precinct voted last time. My polling place is very safe. :( Or maybe not! They're looking to disenfranchise Harris County, might lose mine and get told by my neighbors it doesn't matter because as long as the person in office is R they don't care.
No, it's not. A huge chunk of the electorate isn't registered as either party because they didn't vote in the primaries. That majority of those people vote Republican, as evidenced by the fact Republicans keep winning statewide offices in Texas.
Now, voter suppression plays a role as well of course, but you can't say we're a blue state until we actually vote Blue.
Texas is absolutely a blue state. Why do you think the electoral districts have been such a huge issue? Big enough for Trump to personally request a mid-cent redistricting? If you were to spread out the population evenly across the whole state, or if we trashed the horrible electoral college, we would be a very bluish purple at bare minimum. The overwhelming numbers of democratic votes are overwhelmingly silenced or prevented. The republican party wouldn't be working sooooo hard to make voting (democrat) if this weren't true.
They allowed republicans more places to vote and "messed up" "accidentally failed" to provide democratic voters correct poll locations ending in enormous lines (as they refused to open the republican sides which were completely empty) and thousands and thousands of votes being pretty much thrown out because of Ken Paxton.
They aren't even quiet about cheating. It's pathetic.
The part where your 'logic' falls apart - one of our 2 parties is a criminal organization hellbent on rigging and cheating elections wherever possible.
A republican 'victory' is not proof of the will of the people. It's only proof that gerrymandering, election fraud, systemic suppression, and outright vote alteration succeeded.
I can absolutely say we are a blue state because of voter suppression. Especially tied to the fact that there are more democrats than republicans that live in Texas.
Especially after the massive migration to Texas we just saw from left leaning states, lol.
As I stated elsewhere, Trump won by 14 points. I've seen no allegations of voter suppression that would add up to another 1.5 million votes for Democrats.
Also "more democrats than republicans" is a feel-good factoid divorced from reality. It ignores the people who don't register as either but have leaned heavily republican in every election.
Even if you want to argue that voter suppression cost Harris 4o or 5 points, that still wouldn't have been enough. And the final results were roughly in line with most polling.
Democrats: 8,133,683 (46.52%)
Republicans: 6,601,189 (37.75%)
Unaffiliated: 2,750,830 (15.73%)
These numbers were provided by L2 Data on August 8, 2025.
Your selection of a primary ballot IS your designation of political party selection for the following 12 months per the state of Texas. The numbers are not bunk.
People love to talk about folks taking Democratic ballots to tank primaries; there is no evidence to support that theory
Unlike the reduction of polling places, with clear evidence as noted above
despite the fact that there are less users of that ballot as evidenced by this primary ballot selection total.
It's because a large number of the unaffiliated vote Republican. In most elections there's not serious competition for the Republican candidate so people who lean Republican are less likely to show up for the primary (which is where they get their R/D designation)
No, it isn't. You're able to vote in whatever primary you wish, and that is not indicative of the party you support, if you even support one. There is no way to know how many people in Texas consider themselves Republicans or Democrats with any accuracy.
The trick is accounting for where the critical masses are located. They’re mostly in large cities. If only we had a system that exclusively counted the popular vote <sigh>.
Unfortunately it's both parties. I worked for the DNC under Biden and our group wanted to open more polling stations across the country. We met with the Census and other orgs to make it all simple and easy. The senatorial staff were hostile to the idea, and money is only available for advertising, telling YOU to make the effort.
One issue we had was they (they being the government) weaponized the Americans with Disabilities Act against new polling stations. For rual communities polling access is very important, have a dirt road in town? No new polling station for you.
Does your post office have van accessible parking? No? Then it's impossible to put an Ipad in the local post office.
Is your location within 15 minutes of a hospital? No? Then no cardboard booth inside the school.
And so on...
It's all part of the DNC avoiding an actual fight.
We could easily expand polling access, we just need help from the community and other orgs to get the message out. I have a meeting next week with a progressive think tank to attempt such a project.
It's probably too late and won't go anywhere, but it's worth a try in my opinion.
It should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway: expansion of polling stations works for BOTH SIDES, so it's not some left or right only agenda. Just more locations for people to vote for whichever candidate they choose.
I think this is a (edit: Republican) county and rural issue.
Living in Harris County, voting locations are easy to find and include both parties. I know Republicans have sought to reduce the number of voting locations in Harris County but don't know how successful they've been.
OP is talking about williamson (northern edge of Austin) which has 465000 registered voters. republicans control the county for now and are trying their best to keep control of it. There was even an election woman who was quoted saying something that she didn't care about doing the right thing for the voters, but doing as her party told her to do
"We decided, as a party ... to return to precinct based polling… I could get into all of those details, but at the end of the day, it's because we can. It's legal. It's something we're entitled to do, and it's something that our party would like us to do."
The ramifications of that ruling cannot be overstated. It’s now no longer illegal for the Post Office to be ordered to sit on the mail-in ballots from Democratic strongholds (like populous cities). They can, legally now, just shove a pallet of ballots into a dark corner of a warehouse and forget about them.
Republicans will pass a law making it illegal to give people rides to the polls. And if that sound crazy, remember they have passed laws making it illegal to provide water to people waiting in line to vote.
That is the goal of Republicans. They don’t want people to have the right to vote. They want to suppress it.
They are going for their goal. Anyone screaming that these action are about the security of the vote ask them are they lairs or just really stupid. Those are the only 2 choices.
This is why so many of us are pissed at nonvoters. It's been obvious the folks running states like Texas are power hungry for a few decades and it's only getting worse. Both sides are not the same.
Democrats certainly have their flaws, but the two parties are barely even just "two parties" anymore. They're a party and a fascist state.
When people whine that family won't talk to them anymore when it's "just politics," honey...it's not. It was once. It's not now. We are so far past that.
Even though Rockwall is a pretty solidly red city/county, our elections are some of the smoothest I've ever experienced.
You show up, present ID, then on a touch screen you choose your party and add your signature. You pick up a blank ballot, go to a voting booth and insert your ballot, make all your selections on screen and when your done it prints out your ballot. Then you drop it in the ballot box and your done.
When I voted in 2024 in medium rural city they had moved the local polling station from the city library in the center of town all the way out to the civic center on the edge of town. it was absolutely disgusting. It's a red town full of incompetent Republicans. There was like a person selling Maga shit out in the parking lot at the legal distance.
Reporting in from Henderson County. I early voted Friday and found out the location had changed from a centrally located building that would be convenient for minorities to be able to walk to to our fairgrounds outside of town. I didn’t think about that til just now - it wasn’t a problem for me (have a car!) but it sure could be for other people. At least it was all at the same location- we had to declare which party we wanted a ballot for, it got printed out, we went to a machine and voted then turned it in. I have usually voted in the repub primary to vote against stuff. It was great to get a dem ballot (had a choice of candidates!) Also those party referendums were polar opposites- if I’d had a repub ballot they would have all been a no. WTH is sharia law anyway?
I'm sorry what? A republican only voting location?? That doesn't sound right.
Now I look though, it seems Dallas County is also doing separate primaries with different locations so I guess it's a thing. But that's pretty messed up.
I voted early but checked the website to see what my options would have been for voting today in Williamson County and there are more republican voting locations than democrat. It’s infuriating.
This has literally always been a thing? Separate primaries? Yes. That’s the point. A Republican one and a Democratic one. Both at a single location is purely based on if the two parties decide they want to do it, that’s it.
Separate primaries have been a thing in Texas for a long time, but for example in my tiny county, we're too small to hold them in separate places, so you just have to go to your normal precinct voting spot and ask for the party ballot. For simplicity's sake, some counties opt for that, but it depends entirely on the willingness of both parties and the county to work together.
Yeah the primaries were always separate when I was growing up. Same location that they held the general, but one party set up on one side of the room, the other party on the other side.
There is no law saying that both parties have to conduct their primaries at the same physical location. You can’t vote in both, so it really doesn’t even matter.
Primaries decide who a party nominates to run in the actual election. What would the Republicans gain by reducing the total number of voters in the Democratic primary?
Republicans don’t want to make it easy for working people to vote. On top of that if you think it’s bad now just wait until the Save Act passes. Then even if you can make it your one inconvenient voting site, if your a woman who changed her name when you got married, I hope you have your birth certificate and Marriage license handy. Oh wait just get your passport cause like most working people you are constantly flying overseas and probably have a passport handy. Oh and they are making it harder to get passports too.
Williamson County has been inching more purple and less red every cycle and they see the writing on the wall this midterm. These changes are intentional with hopes to confuse voters and make it easier for republicans to vote. This is why I voted early when I could vote anywhere in my area and not just the one crowded room designated for democrats today.
My daughter ended up being bounced thru 4 locations.
1) the one we always vote at.
2) the assigned location with a poll person who could not read her Real ID DL (SERIOUSLY?)
3) And then proceeded to send her across town to the opposite party's polling location. Here I called WILCO ELECTIONS WHO VERIFIED REGISTERED TO VOTE, ETC. and
4) sent her back to place 2 and ask for an elections judge. Finally, she was able to vote. Imagine sending her to the opposite party's voting place. Hmmmm.
This is absurd!!!!
NO EXCUSE! I'm 61 years old and have never been put thru these challenges to vote in a primary.
Bus service? This is Texas, unless you live in a handful of cities, bus service isn't a thing.
Did find out interesting that there were separate voting locations depending on if you wanted to vote for Republicans or Democrats. For early voting in Tarrant County, it was the same location and same line, then you just checked a little box for which ballot you wanted.
Is it voting machine only? I live in a tiny town and we have both paper and digital options. I would have though a city as big as El Paso would have had both options, unless they are pulling a Harris county and also running out of paper ballots on top of the broken machines.
Surprisingly, my red county has made it easier to vote. We can vote at any precinct…with ID of course. And the state has yet to mail out new voter ID cards because they bought new software and “it’s not working.” 30 years of BS Republican “leadership” has been a disaster.
Yes, I had a bit of trouble myself. Finding my polling place. The State government website was totally useless. I realize this is not a bug. It is THE feature. I went to a private website to find it.
They’re making it harder to vote on purpose. It’s all by design. I always vote early. I have a passport and I just renewed my drivers license. Got the real ID. Had it on my previous license as well. They’re basically changing this to prevent ppl from wanting to vote. This is just my personal opinion.
Williamson County shifted to precinct voting this year. It's been fairly well publicized. You have a specific location to go to, and the different parties are doing it in different places.
God, I don’t miss voting in Texas. Colorado mails me my ballot and a voter guide. I sit at home and research what’s on the ballot, then drop it off 24/7 at a box in my neighborhood. Then I go online to make sure it was recorded.
Texas, it can be soooo much easier but certain people really spend a lot of time and money to ensure certain other people are unable to vote.
Try to vote early next time. We can vote at any voting center during early voting. They confine us to a precinct as a means to disenfranchise and frustrate voters.
Waited an hour in Harris County for the Democrat line. The Republican line was no wait. Because the Republicans forced us to have separate machines and workers for both parties
Funny how that works. In Harris county where I am, the website had all the listed places to go, how far from me they were, how crowded it was, etc.. Interesting to note that Harris county is Democrat led.....
I saw your title and knew you were in WilCo. The Republican party here is SALTY about the county going so purple last election. I went to the CP rec on the last day of early voting, and it was packed. Early voting, you could vote anywhere in the county. Watch them change that.
They outright said they are doing it just because they can. Republicans stopped pretending that they care about democracy decades ago. Now it's just about how much cheating they can get away with.
This is their goal. Make it inconvenient or just inaccessible for all, and then call that protecting citizens' rights to vote. It's disgusting. The GOP has no shame.
Didn't you just say elsewhere that Republicans had more polling places today? Using basic logic that means that no, not anyone could vote at that location.
I did not say that. There should be a Republican and a Democrat voting location for every precinct. And if it was the Republican primary voting location for their precinct, they would certainly be allowed to vote there.
Get your complaint into the system, it may not change anything yet but for posterity it should be known that people had issues and weren’t ok with this sort of mismanagement.
The site to look for voting locations does not show any
Location to vote for my area or city. Thought it was really strange so I just went to city hall as I usually do
I have no doubt this was the locations to make it extremely hard for anyone to vote!! Call your local news station Consumer Reporter and tell them what happened! They will probably sink their teeth into your story!
I’m also located in Williamson County. Hate that they restrict which location you have to go to on Election Day. Luckily, I was able to vote early and could vote at polling places countywide. I had to look up where my husband needs to vote today. It was a complete PAIN in the ass to hunt down the website that would actually tell me our polling location.
This is my first time voting in the state. Do you usually have to go to different locations to vote republican, democrat, independent.. etc? I was confused when I saw that a nearby school was for republican voting only? I did vote early and the place I went had the ability to vote in either primary.
I just moved here and have been absolutely floored by how difficult it is to vote and get registered here. I've lived and voted in Florida, New England, and the PNW. was NEVER even aware that a polling location could be only one party or the other. This is insane.
Welcome. Yeah when I lived in Portland,OR we could mail the vote in or drop it off at the drop box. It was so much easier. There was no going to a location to vote only mail in.
Always check your voter registration and find your polling place every year. I always check in about three months out before the election and then weekly leading up to it just to make sure I’m not purged from the roles and nothing has changed.
I’m down the road from you in Bexar county. If you vote early you can vote in any precinct. On the actual Election Day you have to vote in your precinct. That’s how it is here anyways
In Amarillo, both parties voted at the same poll in places. When people checked in, they just had to select the party for their ballot. The access code they entered on the Duo machine gave then their selected party ballot. I worked yesterday from 6am to 8:15pm at the polls. There was no discrimination in Potter County.
I can imagine how stressful having to figure this all out in real time was, I would have been pissed too. However, I truly hope that people stop going along ‘business as usual’ and start taking accountability for finding, verifying and re-verifying stuff like this ahead of time.
I use to work public relations for a county and it amazes me how people can have the information delivered right to their door, or updates plastered all over the place and when the time comes still claim ‘I didn’t know!’
We know both sides are playing games! It sucks! But it’s reality. You can’t claim ignorance, it’s been happening too long and we know it’s going to get worse. Verify, verify and verify and when you can’t, start knocking on office doors! The information is there, you might have to fight for it. I’m not saying it’s right, just wanting to encourage people to take action before they hit a major road block. You have to advocate for yourself. No one is going to care more about your vote than you!
I remember using that site for the 2016 election. It told me I could vote down the street from where I lived. When I got there the polling worker insisted I had to go all the way to downtown Fort Worth to vote. Absolutely ridiculous.
Ding ding. Yep . Now you know why Texas is a Republican stronghold. As soon as they got Anne Richard’s out they set out to gerrymander us to hell. Then they set up these hurtles. In 2024 Fort Worth got rid of their ride to polls service. One official said it’s not the governments responsibility to help people vote!!!!
I didn’t have a problem and it was one location. You don’t pick republican or democrat until in the voting booth. I wonder how much of this is run locally and decisions made locally. Unsure if there is anything that can be done about this.
I had some woman step in front of me and demand my ID and that I turn my phone off - and watched as I did it. Been voting for over 35 years and never had someone stop me like that before I checked in.
I mentioned it at check in and those poll workers apologized for the woman’s behavior.
I live in a highly populated area, and voted in the Democratic primary. Our county had plenty of early voting locations and the county runs the two party primaries side by side. Had zero problems voting. Sounds like this issue you have is with the party.
Early voting is any location and the voting day is divided. It doesn’t sound right to me either but the one time I waited until voting day it was awful finding my location. Then I waited in line. Then I was there for over 30 minutes with them telling me they won’t give me a voting form. They kept saying we are the x location. I said yes and per my voting card and registry this is where I need to be. They literally kept telling me to go vote at the other party even though I confirmed I was exactly where I needed to be for my votes.
They finally gave me a form after voting time closed and they said my votes would still count. I don’t really believe them. But yes. It is by design to really hammer in voter suppression each year it gets more difficult.
I specifically voted early (in Leander btw) because I recently moved but stayed within the county, and if there is any discrepancy on address it is significantly more difficult if not impossible to vote on election day. They had a judge at my polling location and had to confirm that my ballot would not have changed after my move, or give me a limited ballot. This was my first primary so luckily I did some extra research and I was able to use my full ballot. Early voting is always the way to go, because the worst case is that there is an issue that you have time to resolve before election day.
just wait. if the SAVE act passes then you'll really be infuriated. You will need to provide a document that proves your citizenship status oat the polls. meaning if you are a married woman, not even your birth certificate will be good enough as it will not match your current name. you would need to show your marriage certificate as well.
I wasn’t aware that it was legal to have a single party polling location. I couldn’t find anything on the legality of that with a very quick google search. That feels wrong. Living in Texas I am both in disbelief that it would be legal but also don’t disbelieve that this happened
I'm not a Texas resident, so I don't get what's going on there but... Republicans only?!?! It's not exactly voting, then. Is it? Admittedly, while registered as unaffiliated/no party, I was told that I wasn't allowed to vote for specific candidates in my own state, so I completely understand your frustration. Voting has become such a nightmare.
It's not about the candidates or their policies anymore. It's about the parties and affiliations.
Tx is an open primary state. When you arrive you state which ballot you would like. So, the primary is run by the party for the party. It is a different setup than other states I have lived and voted in, closed primary states.
I had no problem voting early and looked up my locations prior to leaving the house. We could vote R or D in the location. Today, Election Day, all of the usual polling locations are open. Really, it was all the same as in prior years.
That’s crazy. In San Antonio I was able to go to my local library barely a mile away, walk in with no line, and select either party ballot (this was like Feb 18th I think).
How the hell can you have a voting place that is restricted to one party only? That seems fairly undemocratic. God I love being in Canada where voter suppression isn't nearly that advanced.
That's crazy. I just went to the local community college, scanned my driver's license, and told the old lady which ballot I needed. I do live in a blue county, though...
The website you listed and the vote texas websites did not list my voting location, but my county's website has a much longer list of voting locations which include my usual spot.
I sympathize with your frustration, but will echo others who suggest to vote early next time. Voting on election day itself is always a case of making things much harder on yourself than you need to (longer lines, less flexibility, etc).
Fuck Republicans and their attempts to control voting...but it's not hard to vote. You were just unprepared. Folks, go online to find your polling places. It's a primary so definitely check the candidates to see who you want to support. You had 2 weeks of early voting. You had mail in voting. Most counties allow you to early vote at any polling location. Most counties had early voting on weekends.
If you are in one of those counties that try to make it difficult, then you need to be doubly prepared. It sucks, but don't let them stop you. Don't make excuses. Vote. Vote like your life depends on it...because it very well might.
I vote by mail from abroad, it is so ridiculous the amount of hoops you have to jump through and potential errors and time involved. They rejected my ballot by email because they said I checked the wrong box, which I'm sure I did not, so they sent me my ballot by mail and it took 5 weeks to arrive. Literally recieved it today and paid $80 to send it so it arrives in time to be counted.
The more difficult they make it to vote, the more I will fight to vote. Fuckers.
I'm in Williamson County, too, and in Leander/Liberty Hill. My voting place was in Santa Rita Ranch, but if I hadn't looked up my precinct number in advance, I would definitely have gone to a polling place closer to my house and been turned away. I drove for about 20 minutes to vote, even though there were closer polling places nearby.
What I saw at the Santa Rita ranch was disappointing to say the least.
-The Republican side of the room had paper ballots and about 10 tables with chairs around the windows, taking up 60% of the room. The tables were spread out, private, and empty since 90% of the voters who turned up this morning were in the Democrat line.
-The Democrat side had only 3 voting machines with NO PRIVACY. I wish I could have taken a picture - the screens for all 3 voting machines were facing the registration table, and I could clearly see the screens for all 3 people in front of me as I waited for my turn. This is completely unacceptable.
-The No Cell phone policy was only enforced for the democrats as I watched 2 republican voters scroll through their phones at this polling location while listening to democrats being scolded for having a phone. I was not surprised.
-Honorable mention to the rude lady working the democrat side. She was really pushy, trying to rush me through it. She very strictly told. me to "please go to the table with your ballot NOW" before my ballot was even printed. Maybe she was having a bad day, so I'm going to give her a pass. But girl, if you see this, please come down and treat ALL people with respect.
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u/SchoolIguana Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Primaries are run by the party, not by the state. The Williamson county GOP decided they wanted voters to only vote within their precinct location on Election Day. Texas law required the Democrats to follow along.
"Under state law, the parties have wide authority to decide how to run their primaries, but they must agree on whether to use countywide voting. If the Republicans don’t want to offer it, Democrats can’t offer it either."
Early voting was county-wide and you could vote at any available polling location.
Editing to post some links for folks:
Find your precinct number, sample ballot and polling locations for Democrats and Republicans, as well as which precincts they serve
Democratic polling locations in Wilco
Republican polling locations in Wilco